Posts Tagged ‘read-the-rest’

Much has been written recently about performance ratings and management at some large and successful companies. Amazon has surfaced as a company implementing OLRs, organization and leadership reviews, which target the least effective 10% of an organization for appropriate action. Yahoo recently implemented QPRs, quarterly performance reviews, which rates people as “misses” or “occasionally misses” among other ratings. And just so we don’t think this is something unique to tech, every year about this time Wall St firms begin the annual bonus process which is filled with any number of legendary dysfunctions given the massive sums of money in play. Even the Air Force has a legendary process for feedback and appraisal. Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Most smartphone users know data speeds can vary widely. But how do the different carriers stack up against each other? The Federal Communications Commission is hoping the public can help figure that out, using a new app it will preview next week. The FCC on Friday said that the agenda for next Thursday’s open meeting, the first under new Chairman Tom Wheeler, will feature a presentation on a new Android smartphone app that will be used to crowdsource measurements of mobile broadband speeds. Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Fairfax Financial Holdings disclosed that its partners in a $1 billion investment in struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry include a Qatar-based sovereign-wealth fund and several Canadian investment funds. Fairfax’s regulatory filing Thursday answers some of the questions that have hovered over BlackBerry since it scrapped a monthslong attempt to sell itself on Monday, saying it would continue as a public company with new leadership and the $1 billion investment. Read the rest of this post on the original site

Technology entrepreneur Jack Dorsey is trying to pull off two high-profile initial public offerings in the span of one year. Square Inc., the payments startup with a square credit-card reader that plugs into Apple- and Android-based mobile devices, has held discussions with banks, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, about a 2014 IPO, said a person familiar with the matter. No bank has been hired and the timing of a deal could change, the person cautioned. The public offering would come on the heels of Twitter Inc., which is expected to start trading shares Thursday. Read the rest of this post on the original site

Long before I started work as the CEO of Apple, I became aware of a fundamental truth: People are much more willing to give of themselves when they feel that their selves are being fully recognized and embraced. At Apple, we try to make sure people understand that they don’t have to check their identity at the door. We’re committed to creating a safe and welcoming workplace for all employees, regardless of their race, gender, nationality or sexual orientation. As we see it, embracing people’s individuality is a matter of basic human dignity and civil rights. It also turns out to be great for the creativity that drives our business. We’ve found that when people feel valued for who they are, they have the comfort and confidence to do the best work of their lives. Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Sports fans could find it easier to catch certain local games on television under a proposal released on Friday by a federal regulator to end a long-standing blackout rule. Acting Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn is proposing to eliminate the sports blackout rule, which currently prevents cable and satellite television providers from airing National Football League or other professional games if they are blacked out on local TV stations because of low attendance. The change means that pay-television providers would be able to air a game even if local broadcast stations were blocked. Read the rest of this post on the original site »

In May, a dozen Amazon.com Inc. executives, including Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, gathered in a Seattle conference room to select the first original TV shows the company would produce for its streaming video service. A group of 14 “pilot” episodes had been posted on the company’s website a month earlier, where they were viewed by more than one million people. After monitoring viewing patterns and comments on the site, Amazon produced about 20 pages of data detailing, among other things, how much a pilot was viewed, how many users gave it a 5-star rating and how many shared it with friends. Those findings helped the executives pick the first five pilots—winnowed down from an original pool of thousands of show ideas—that would be turned into series. The first will debut this month: “Alpha House,” a political comedy about four politicians who live together, written by Doonesbury comic strip creator Garry Trudeau. Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Qualcomm Inc. is in talks to join a possible bid for BlackBerry Ltd. that is being spearheaded by two of the beleaguered smartphone maker’s co-founders, according to people familiar with the matter. Qualcomm is contemplating joining private-equity Cerberus Capital Management LP, which is also in talks to join Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, the BlackBerry co-founders who have said they are considering a bid as part of an auction of the company, which is expected to come to a head with a bid deadline Monday. Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. posted a wider loss in its fiscal second quarter, with lower revenue and higher operating expenses straining the videogame maker’s results. The company, though, issued upbeat guidance for the current quarter and raised its full-year outlook. The unadjusted results for the most recent period didn’t include the revenue and cost impact of the company’s best-selling “Grand Theft Auto V,” which was released two weeks before the quarter ended and whose online edition came out on the first day of the fiscal third quarter. Read the rest of this post on the original site »

The U.S. is expected to announce a resolution Wednesday to the visa fraud investigation against mega outsourcer Infosys, according to a Justice Department official. For more than two years, the Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department have investigated Infosys’s visa practices, prompted by allegations that the company had improperly used business travel documents to place Indian employees in long term positions in American companies. An official with the U.S. attorney’s office said the office is finalizing a civil agreement with the Bangalore-based firm. Read the rest of this post on the original site »

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Talk NYC/WW is your daily download of the tech, marketing and advertising news you need to know. It’s smartly curated to keep you up to speed on the innovators and innovations that are shaking up the digital world today.